Heavy duty plate roll

ABSTRACT

A plate roll of a printing cylinder is supported along its entire length by a sleeve. Bearings are disposed between the sleeve and the plate roll at each end of the plate roll so that the plate roll is rotatably mounted on the sleeve. An annular oil reservoir is disposed between the bearings, the sleeve, and the plate roll to lubricate the bearings.

United States Patent 11 1 Schultz 1 1 June 25, 1974 1 HEAVY DUTY PLATE ROLL 3,239,284 3/1966 Cina 308/20 3,306,441 2/1967 S d 308 20 [75] Inventor: schultl, Cmcmnatl, 3,420,590 1/1969 1811GT 308/20 [73] Assignee: International Machine Products, 3 22 3;; 3x28 y S en Cmcmnat" 3,680,933 8/1972 Walker 308/20 [22] Filed: May 25, 1972 3,721,188 3/1973 Jacobson et a1. 101/375 21 A 1. No.: 256 835 l 1 pp Primary Examiner-Robert E. Pulfrey Assistant ExaminerWilliam Pieprz USc Cl- R Attorney Agent or Firm John G Schenk [51] Int. Cl B411 13/20 [58] Field of Search 101/375; 308/20; 29/116 R,

29 1 AD [57] ABSTRACT A plate roll of a printing cylinder is supported along- 3 References Clted its entire length by a sleeve. Bearings are disposed be- UNITED STATES PATENTS tween the sleeve and the plate roll at each end of the 1,514,109 11/1924 Stenstrom 101 /375 Plate r011 50 that the Plate roll is rotatably mounted On 2,355,511 8/1944 Cobb 29/116 R th sleeve An annular oil reservoir is disposed be- 2,525,931 10/1950 Morse 101/375 tween the bearings, the sleeve, and the plate roll to lu- 2,731,678 l/l956 Hopkins 29/1 16 R bricate the bearings, 2,812,554 11/1957 Swanson 29/116 R 3,225,692 12/1965 Oakes 101/375 4 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure 1 HEAVY DUTY PLATE ROLL Ina printing machine, printing occurs when paper passes between a printing cylinder and an impression cylinder or back-up roll. ()ne of the factors controlling the quality of the printis the smoothness of the contact of the printing cylinder with the paper.

Because of the length of the printing cylinder, it is subjectedto deflection whereby it bounces or chatters with respect to the impression cylinder so that there is a variation in the impression of the print on, the paper. As this bounceor chatter of the printing cylinder increases due to increased deflection of the printing cyl inder, the quality of the printing decreases.

The present invention satisfactorily overcomes this problem by utilizing a support for the printing cylinder in which relatively large bearing surfaces, in comparison with the previously employed bearings, are utilized. This is accomplished through employing a support sleeve for the length of the printing cylinder so that relatively large bearing surfaces may be employed to significantly decrease any deflection of the printing cylinder whereby the quality of the printing is improved.

In addition to being able to increase the size of the bearings by using the support arrangement of the present invention, the wear life of the bearing also is increased by the present invention. This is accomplished through utilizing an oil reservoir to continuously lubri-. cate the bearings.

In the previously available printing cylinders, the bearings depended upon lubrication by the operator. Thus, if the operator failed to lubricate the bearings at the appropriate time, the life of the bearings was significantly decreased. Additionally, the previously employed bearings, which were smaller than the bearings of the present invention, required lubrication at more frequent intervals than is required by the bearings of the present invention because the smaller size bearings has to carry the same load.

The present invention also significantly decreases the cost for printing cylinders since a single support sleeve may be employed with many different printing cylinders. Thus, the tooling costs for manufacturing printing cylinders is substantially decreased, and this results in a reduction in cost to the purchaser of a printing machine since it is only necessary for one support sleeve to be procured for use with a plurality of different printing cylinders.

By utilizing the support arrangement of the present invention, the size of the mounting shaft for the printing cylinder also may be decreased. Since larger shafts make the printing machine more complicated because of the closeness of the parts, the ability to use a smaller mounting shaft reduces the complexity of the printing machine.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved support for a printing cylinder of a printing machine.

Another object of this invention is to provide a printing cylinder support having bearings of relatively long life.

A further object of this invention is to provide a support arrangement for a printing cylinder in which the bearings are continuously lubricated.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a support arrangement for a printing cylinder to increase the quality of printing.

10 includes a plate roll 11 and rubber printing plates 12, which are secured to the external surface of the plate roll 11. The rubber plates 12 of the printing cylinder 10 engage the paper as it passes between the paper and an impression cylinder or back-up roll as more particularly shown and described in the aforesaid Thompson patent.

The support arrangement of the present invention for the printing cylinder 10 includes an elongated support sleeve 14, which is releasably mounted on a mounting shaft 15. The mounting shaft 15 may be rotatably supported in the manner shown and described in the aforesaid patent.

The sleeve includes a reduced central portion 16 and bearing support portions 17 and 18 on each side of the central portion 16. The sleeve 14 has an enlarged portion 19 adjacent the bearing support portion 17. This portion is ground, then chrome plated and then ground again.

The enlarged portion 19 has an annular surface 20 adjacent which one end of a bearing 21 engages. The other end of the bearing 21 abuts against an annular shoulder 22 of the plate roll 11. The annular shoulder 22 is formed by enlarging longitudinal bore 23 of the" plate roll 11. t

The enlarged portion 19 has a threaded hole 24 to receive a set screw 25 to releasably secure the sleeve 14 to the mounting shaft 15. This retains the bearing 21 in the desired position.

The bearing surface portion 18 0f the sleeve 14 has a bearing 26 supported thereby. The bearing 26 has one end engaging against an annular shoulder 27 of the plate roll 11 while its other end abuts against a collar 28, which is releasably secured to the bearing surface portion 18 of the sleeve 14 by a set screw 29 extending through a threaded hole 30 in the collar 28. Thus, the bearing 26 is held between the collar 28 and the annular shoulder 27, which is formed by enlarging the bore 23 of the plate roll 11. i

The bearing 26 not only provides support to the end of the plate roll 11 but it also provides a bearing support for a gear 31, which is releasably secured to an end of the plate'roll 11 by mounting bolts 32. The gear 31 is easily replacable so that gears of different sized teeth for different speeds of rotation of the printing cylinder 10 may be readily utilized.

While the bearings 21 and 26 may be of any suitable type such as roller hearings or ball bearings, the bearings 21 and 26 are preferably OIL-LITE bearings which are oil impregnated bronze bearings.

The bearings 21 and 26 and the sleeve 14 cooperate with each other and with a felt oiler tube 33 to form an annular oil reservoir 34. The tube 33 extends between the end of the bearings 21 and 26.

The oil reservoir 34 retains sufficient oil therein to continuously lubricate the bearings 21 and 26. The lubrication occurs due to centrifugal force, which is produced by the rotation of the printing cylinder 10, pumping oil from the oil reservoir 34 to each of the bearings 21 and 26.

Accordingly, the printing cylinder 10 can be quickly supported on the mounting shaft through the support sleeve 14. Furthermore, there can be a quick change of the gear 31 so as to change the speed of rotation of the printing cylinder 10. Additionally, when it is desired to utilize a different printing cylinder, it is only necessary to remove the collar 28 from the sleeve 14 to withdraw the plate roll 11 and the rubber plates 12 from the sleeve 14 and the mounting shaft 15.

While the present invention has shown the plate roll 11 as having the gear 31 mounted thereon, it should be understood that any other means for rotating the printing cylinder 10 may be employed. It is only necessary that the motive force be transmitted to the printing cyl inder 10 from the impression cylinder or back-up roll so that the speed of the printing cylinder 10 is correlated to the speed of the paper and the rotation of the impression cylinder or back-up roll.

An advantage of this invention is that is increases the bearing life of the bearings which support the printing cylinder of a printing machine. Another advantage of this invention is that there is better lubrication of the bearings which support the printing cylinder of a printing machine. A further advantage of this invention is that the quality of print of a printing machine is improved. Still another advantage of this invention is that the single support arrangement may be employed for a plurality of pringing cylinders.

For purposes of exemplification, a particular embodiment of the invention has been shown and described according to the best present understanding thereof. However, it will be apparent that changes and modifications in the arrangement and construction of the parts thereof may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A printing cylinder for a printing machine including a plate roll having a longitudinal stepped bore extending therethrough, said stepped bore providing shoulders adjacent each end of the bore, printing means on the exterior surface of said plate roll, a hollow sleeve extending through the bore in said plate roll and extending at least the length of said plate roll, said sleeve having a diameter substantially less than the diameter of the bore, said sleeve adapted to be securely supported against rotation on a mounting shaft, bearing means supported by said sleeve to rotatably support said plate roll on said sleeve, said bearing means being disposed at each end of said plate roll within the bore and each having one end engaging a shoulder of said plate roll, a collar releasably secured to said sleeve at one end to retain one of said bearing means within the bore of said plate roll in engagement with one bore shoulder, an enlarged portion of said sleeve at the other end, said enlarged portion having a surface engaging one end of the other bearing means to retain said other bearing means within the bore of said plate roll in engagement with the other bore shoulder, a lubricant reservoir defined by said sleeve and said plate roll and each of said bearing means, and a gear releasably secured to said plate roll for rotating said plate roll relative to said sleeve.

2. The printing cylinder according to claim 1 including means to releasably secure said sleeve to the mounting shaft.

3. The printing cylinder according to claim 1 further comprising lubricant transfer means mounted within said reservoir and extending from one bearing means to the other to supply lubricant to each of said bearing means.

4. The printing cylinder according to claim 3 in which said hollow sleeve extends beyond each end of said plate roll. 

1. A printing cylinder for a printing machine including a plate roll having a longitudinal stepped bore extending therethrough, said stepped bore providing shoulders adjacent each end of the bore, printing means on the exterior surface of said plate roll, a hollow sleeve extending through the bore in said plate roll and extending at least the length of said plate roll, said sleeve having a diameter substantially less than the diameter of the bore, said sleeve adapted to be securely supported against rotation on a mounting shaft, bearing means supported by said sleeve to rotatably support said plate roll on said sleeve, said bearing means being disposed at each end of said plate roll within the bore and each having one end engaging a shoulder of said plate roll, a collar releasably secured to said sleeve at one end to retain one of said bearing means within the bore of said plate roll in engagement with one bore shoulder, an enlarged portion of said sleeve at the other end, said enlarged portion having a surface engaging one end of the other bearing means to retain said other bearing means within the bore of said plate roll in engagement with the other bore shoulder, a lubricant reservoir defined by said sleeve and said plate roll and each of said bearing means, and a gear releasably secured to said plate roll for rotating said plate roll relative to said sleeve.
 2. The printing cylinder according to claim 1 including means to releasably secure said sleeve to the mounting shaft.
 3. The printing cylinder according to claim 1 further comprising lubricant transfer means mounted within said reservoir and extending from one bearing means to the other to supply lubricant to each of said bearing means.
 4. The printing cylinder according to claim 3 in which said hollow sleeve extends beyond each end of said plate roll. 